Wrapping machine



Jan. 3, 1939. A. c ROSE, 1 2,142,528

'- v WRAPPING MACHINE Filed Sept. 11, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet l Jan. 3, 1939. A. G. ROSE 2,142,528

WRAPPING MACHINE Filed Sept. 11, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 122 rzfil YI WQQQ ZT I Patented Jan. 3, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE assignor to Rose Brothers (Gainsborough) Limited, Gainsborough, England, a British com- Application September 11, 1937, Serial No. 163,457 In Great Britain September 18, 1936 4 Claims.

This invention relates to wrapping machines of the type comprising a main frame, a movable carrier (such as a rotatable wheel or endless chain or an oscillatable arm or the like) provided with one or more receiving pockets and movable intermittently to bring said pockets, or each pocket in turn as the case may be, up to a feed station, a pusher operable intermittently at the feed station to feed the articlesto be wrapped one at a time to the carrier, wrapper feeding mechanism operable to feed a continuous web of wrapping material (paper, metal foil or the like) intermittently across the path of the pusher between it and the carrier, and cutter mechanism operable intermittently to sever the leading portion of the web to constitute an individual wrapper. In the operation of a machine of this type, each wrapper as, or immediately after, it is severed is engaged by an article being advanced by the pusher, and both article and wrapper are together carried into the carrier pocket during which operation the wrapper is folded to U-shape about three sides of the article.

In operating a wrapping machine of the type described with certain classes of articles (e. g,

caramels) -difliculties arise in obtaining any desired position of the wrappers on the articles when the size of the articles varies slightly from batch to batch. If, for example, the machine is so arranged, as to the position occupied by the wrapper blank when presented to a receiving pocket, that the terminal edge of the last folded end flap of the wrapper coincides with thecorresponding edge of the article, it will be appreciated that any variation in the peripheral girth of the article (measured round its sides) will upset the coincidence between the exposed terminal edge of the wrapper and the corresponding edge of the article. It has already been proposed to provide in a wrapping machine means whereby the position of the cutter mechanism (and as a consequence the position whereat the web is severed) relative to the receiving pocket could be adjusted. In this prior proposal, however, the cutter mechanism comprised a movable knife and a fixed shear plate which were adjustable separately and the adjustment could not be effected while the machine was in operation. It is an object of the present invention to provide means in a wrapping machine of the type described by which the cutter mechanism may be adjusted while the machine is in operation to vary the position of the line of cut-off relatively to that of an article presented to a receiving pocket at the feed station and so to vary the position which one or both of the terminal edges of the wrapper will assume in relation to the article round which it is folded.

The invention consists in a wrapping machine of the type described characterized in that the cutter mechanism is mounted on a sub-frame which is movable with the cutter mechanism and as a single unit in the direction of the length of the wrapper web and relatively to the feed station while the machine is in operation.

In the preferred form of the invention a supply roll or rolls for the wrapping material and the feed mechanism for the wrapping material are also carried on the sub-frame.

The invention includes a wrapping machine of the type described in which the carrier and pusher are mounted on the main frame, and the cutter mechanism, the supply of wrapping material and the feed mechanism for the wrapping material are mounted on a sub-frame slidable on a pair of pillars on the main frame in a direction to move the cutter mechanism towards and away from the feed station, by means of a pair of worms engaging a pair of worm-wheels in screw-threaded engagement with the two pillars respectively, the sub-frame being constrained to move with the worm-wheels in the axial direction of the pillars.

One specific form of wrapping machine according to the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 represents a vertical section showing the wrapper feeding and cutting mechanism and the carrier and pusher; and

Figure 2 is an elevation of the parts of the machine shown in Figure 1.

In this example the movable carrier is in the form of an. intermittently rotatable wheel I having a plurality of pockets 2 of known construction. The pusher is shown at 3 and operates intermittently to feed the caramels to be wrapped, one at a time, from a supply channel 4 to the pockets 2. The pocket wheel and pusher are carried by the main frame of the machine which is indicated at 5, but is broken away for simplicity of the drawings, and are driven in the usual manner, the timing of the operations of the pocket wheel and pusher being such that the pusher operates to feed a caramel as each pocket reaches the feed station.

Secured in bosses l in the upper part of the main frame 5 are two fixed longitudinally parallel pillars 6 which act as guides for the sub-frame. The sub-frame consists of two independent side members 9 and I secured together by cross pieces H and the side members are each formed with three bosses |2, l3 and ll of which the bosses |2 engage the guide pillars 3 above the fixed frame bosses I and the bosses l3 and I4 engage the pillars below the frame bosses. The bosses l2, I3 and H are slidable on the guide pillars and movement is efiected by means of a pair of worm-wheels l5 in screw-threaded engagement with the guide pillars and a pair of Worms 6 carried on a shaft H which is rotatable by means of a hand-wheel |8 to effect the movement of the bosses and with them the whole of the sub-frame.

Carried on the sub-frame for movement therewith is the cutter mechanism shown at IS, the feed rolls 20 for the wrapper material and supply rolls 2| and 22 carrying two strips of wrapper material.

The cutter mechanism consists of a fixed shear blade 24 and a rotary blade 25 which is driven by means of a gear 26 and chain 21 from a drive shaft 28. A spring-loaded jockey pulley 29 is included in the chain drive to accommodate the length of the chain to the movements of the cutter mechanism. The gear 26 also serves to transmit the drive to a gear 30 arranged to rotate the feed rolls 20.

Means are provided for locking the sub-frame in position on the guide pillars. These means may, for example, consist of set screws in one or both of the bosses |2 or alternatively these bosses may be split and provided with locking bolts 33 as shown.

The wrapper strip from the supply roll 2| is taken over a tensioning guide pulley 34 and over further guide pulleys 35, 35 and 31 while the strip from the supply roll 22 is taken over a tensioning pulley 38 and then over the guide pulleys 35 and 31. The supply rolls 2| and 22 are provided with brake mechanism (not shown) for maintaining tension on the wrapper strips.

In the operation of the machine both wrapper webs are fed together from the supply rolls 2| and 22 by means of the feed rolls 20 past the cutter mechanism I9 and past the pusher 3. When a suitable length of wrapper material to form a wrapper has been fed past the cutter mechanism and a pocket on the carrier has reached the feed station the rotating cutter blade 25 co-operates with the fixed blade 24 to cut the wrapper strips and at substantially the same instant the pusher moves to the right into the position shown in Figure l pushing the caramel 3| into the pocket and folding the wrapper 32 around three sides of the caramel. The pusher is then withdrawn and the carrier rotated to further stations at which the wrapping operations are completed. When it is desired to adjust the position occupied by the wrapper blank 32 at the feeding station the handwheel i8 is rotated causing the worm-wheels l5 to move upwardly or downwardly on the guide pillars and to take with them the sub-frame carrying the cutter mechanism, this adjustment being performed, if desired, while the machine is in operation. Thus, for example, if it is desired to raise the wrapper blank in relation to the feed station then the hand-wheel I8 is rotated in the direction to screw the worm-wheels |5 upwardly on the guide pillars.

It will be appreciated that with the arrangement described above both blades of the cutter mechanism are adjustable together and that this adjustment can readily be effected by movement of the single hand-wheel ll.

I claim:

1. A wrapping machine of the type described comprising in combination a main frame, a pocket wheel mounted in the main frame and intermittently movable to bring each pocket in turn up to a feed station, a pusher mounted in the main frame and operable intermittently at the feed station to feed the articles to be wrapped one at a time to the pocket wheel, wrapper feeding mechanism operable to feed a continuous web of wrapping material downwardly across the path of the pusher between it and the pocket wheel, cutter mechanism which is operable intermittently to sever the leading portion of the web to consti- Cir tute an individual wrapper and is so timed that I severance of the wrapper will be effected substantially simultaneously with engagement of it by the article advanced by the pusher, and a subframe carrying the wrapper feeding and cutter mechanisms and movable therewith as a unit in a vertical direction on the main frame to vary automatically the vertical location of the severed wrapper at the moment of its engagement with the article advanced by the pusher.

2. The wrapping machine claimed in claim 1 combined with a wrapping material supply-roll mounted on the sub-frame.

3. The wrapping machine claimed in claim 1 combined with a hand-operable worm and wormwheel device for effecting vertical adjustment of the sub-frame on the main frame.

4. The wrapping machine claimed in claim 1 combined with two pillars attached to the main frame and forming the mounting on which the sub-frame is vertically slidable, a pair of wormwheels in screw-threaded engagement with the two pillars respectively and engaging bosses on the sub-frame, a pair of worms in operative engagement with the two worm-wheels respectively, a shaft carrying the two worms and hand-operable means for rotating the shaft.

' ALFRED GERMAN ROSE. 

